Category: Peak Oil

“For some years now,” Tim Morgan writes in Life After Growth , “global average EROEIs have been falling, as energy resources have become both smaller and more difficult (meaning energy-costly) to extract.” You may have heard of this concept called energy return on energy invested (EROEI). It looks at how much energy we expend in relation to how much energy we extract. Some, like Morgan, think this is very important. Consequently, falling EROEIs have become the basis of a variety of dire forecasts… Be skeptical of anything that seeks to analyze our economy by taking money out. In these scenarios, we spend more and more energy just getting energy, and we have less and less for other discretionary items. As Morgan writes, “If EROEI falls materially, our consumerist way of life is over.” I’m writing to you today to slay this flawed EROEI concept. I have to say I […]

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Oil industry costs are spiraling out of control, and it’s time to rein them in, Total CEO Christophe de Margerie insisted Tuesday. “Excellence cannot be an excuse for doing anything at any price,” de Margerie told oil and gas industry executives gathered at the IHS CERAWeek energy summit in Houston. “We cannot continue to swallow this huge inflation.” The French oil executive suggested that soaring capital expenditures are partly being driven by greedy subcontractors. He stopped short of naming names, but blamed “Asian countries (that) think we are ready to pay forever.” “We have to go to the sub-subcontractors and say: ‘We know what’s going on. We can no longer be the deep pocket,’” de Margerie said. Big oil cuts De Margerie’s comments came […]

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Page added on March 3, 2014 Last week, I mused on the death of cars and big-picture factors working against the auto industry, including urbanization and declining driving rates in younger Americans. Now, I’ll trot out my crystal ball again and offer you another prediction: This is the beginning of the end for Big Oil, too. Now before you jump down my throat for trolling you again with hyperbole, I will state up front that I don’t expect Exxon Mobil XOM -1.01%  , BP BP -2.13%  and Chevron CVX -0.69%   to disappear tomorrow any more than I expect I-95 to start sprouting daisies. But as with the decline of automobile ownership — and in part because of it — we may also be witnessing a protracted decline in major energy stocks and fossil fuel demand. That’s bad for big oil, and bad for investors in these stocks. Efficiency […]

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Page added on March 3, 2014 The economic foundations supporting fossil fuels investments are collapsing quickly, as the business case for renewables such as solar and wind finds a new center of balance. I have waited a long time—decades, really—for a tipping point in the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables beyond which there can be no turning back. Fresh evidence pertaining to many themes I have explored in this column over the past three years suggests that tipping point is finally here. Oil and gas Underlying the abundance hype over tight oil, tar sands and other “unconventional” sources of liquid fuel has been a dirty little secret: They’re expensive. The soaring cost of producing oil has far outpaced the rise in oil prices as the world has relied on these marginal sources to keep production growing since conventional oil production peaked in 2005. Those who ignored the […]

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Steve Kopits recently gave a presentation explaining our current predicament: the cost of oil extraction has been rising rapidly (10.9% per year) but oil prices have been flat. Major oil companies are finding their profits squeezed, and have recently announced plans to sell off part of their assets in order to have funds to pay their dividends. Such an approach is likely to lead to an eventual drop in oil production. I have talked about similar points previously (here and here), but Kopits adds some additional perspectives which he has given me permission to share with my readers. I encourage readers to watch the original hour-long presentation at Columbia University, if they have the time.>Click here to view full article at ourfiniteworld.com

In last week’s column, The Case of the Missing Propane , I explained how the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of shale oil deposits since 2008 has led to a 30% increase in the production of crude petroleum in the United States. While that statistic makes for snappy headlines, it is not particularly meaningful to the overall world oil supply or the phenomenon known as Peak Oil. If you are not familiar with Peak Oil, I published a column in June of 2011 called Peak Oil in Five Paragraphs or Less . Here are the key points: • Peak Oil refers to the time at which we reach the global maximum rate of oil production, which is followed by decades of declining rates of production. • Due to oil’s pivotal role as a transportation fuel and (as I explained in Everything Comes […]

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Earth insight badge A pro-European protester swings a metal chain during riots in Kiev A protester in Ukraine swings a metal chain during clashes – a taste of things to come? Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters If anyone had hoped that the Arab Spring and Occupy protests a few years back were one-off episodes that would soon give way to more stability, they have another thing coming. The hope was that ongoing economic recovery would return to pre-crash levels of growth, alleviating the grievances fueling the fires of civil unrest, stoked by years of recession. But this hasn’t happened. And it won’t . Instead the post-2008 crash era, including 2013 and early 2014, has seen a persistence and proliferation of civil unrest on a scale that has never been seen before in human history. This month alone has seen riots kick-off in Venezuela , Bosnia , Ukraine , Iceland , and […]

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Venezuela protests February 2014 image via aandres/flickr. Creative Commons 2.0 license . If anyone had hoped that the Arab Spring and Occupy protests a few years back were one-off episodes that would soon give way to more stability, they have another thing coming. The hope was that ongoing economic recovery would return to pre-crash levels of growth, alleviating the grievances fueling the fires of civil unrest, stoked by years of recession. But this hasn’t happened. And it won’t . Instead the post-2008 crash era, including 2013 and early 2014, has seen a persistence and proliferation of civil unrest on a scale that has never been seen before in human history. This month alone has seen riots kick-off in Venezuela , Bosnia , Ukraine , Iceland , and Thailand . This is not a coincidence. The riots are of course rooted in common, regressive economic forces playing out across every […]

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We’ve all heard a lot about Peak Oil, the point at which global oil production begins to decline because the accessible supply is simply not as big as it was the year before. Whether it has been passed or is looming in the near future, is still being debated, especially in the light of the recent boom in U.S. production. But it is highly likely that it is imminent, which is really a good thing, given the carbon emissions entailed, which has not been reason enough for many people, institutions and governments to press for alternatives. But what about all of those cars and trucks that most of that oil goes into? There are a number of analysts who think that, despite the optimistic sales projections of automakers, we may be approaching the point of peak cars. Given the fact that more and […]

Click here to view full article at 3blmedia.com

We’ve all heard a lot about Peak Oil, the point at which global oil production begins to decline because the accessible supply is simply not as big as it was the year before. Whether it has been passed or is looming in the near future, is still being debated, especially in the light of the recent boom in U.S. production. But it is highly likely that it is imminent, which is really a good thing, given the carbon emissions entailed, which has not been reason enough for many people, institutions and governments to press for alternatives. But what about all of those cars and trucks that most of that oil goes into? There are a number of analysts who think that, despite the optimistic sales projections of automakers, we may be approaching the point of peak cars. Given the fact that more and […]

Click here to view full article at 3blmedia.com